Story time: On Saturday, I met a few friends for drinks - one of whom showed up in that Forever 21 Mondrian rip-off and a pair of Bakers’ Tribute to YSL.

Since she’s a good friend of mine, I asked her if she was familiar with the origins of her outfit. She responded, “Oh yeah, I know. I mean, it’s not like I can afford the originals, so I just got these instead.”

I winced. Such an irrelevant excuse and yet kept in a holster.

But the thing is, my friend is really cool and really into fashion. Definitely not someone you’d expected to show up sporting an F21 knockoff and an “I know’ smirk. (I previously, and naively, thought that knock-offs were normally purchased when the shopper just didn’t realize she was coveting a copy.)

She couldn’t really tell me why she bought it, other than that the fakes were so exact that only someone who spots fakes for a living could have told the difference. The finer points, in her mind, were moot.

Apparently, a lot more people buy knock-offs than I realized. I’ve always thought that if you wanted say, a Balenciaga blazer, but couldn’t muster the cash, then you could find a fitted vintage suit coat and wear that instead. Inspiration. Not theft. But, apparently, when the copy’s close rather than butchered, the ethical question goes out the window and people leave their apartments carrying F21 Motorcycles.

So, if a knock-off was good enough, would you wear it? Or would you just save your change - or better, get creative?

—KYLE HAYES

It’s not often that an important exhibit skips over New York to San Francisco without so much as a stop on the way back.

But alas, the newly modern, (well, three years ago) DeYoung museum will host the only US presentation of a forty-year retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent’s work.

The exhibition, which opens November 1st, will include 120 accessorized outfits, (including couture), sketches, videos and photographs to show the, “revolutionary nature of his body of work that presents a new definition of femininity”.

Four themes will divide the exhibit: “Pencil Strokes,” in which the chronology of dress making is explored; “The YSL Revolution,” in which you should expect an excess of le smoking; “The Palette,” in which they’ll explore his use of color; and best of all, “Lyrical Sources,” in which they’ll group his work with that of the artists whose influences were constantly seen on his runways, including Mondrian and Braque.

And, if you’re not already booking a ticket to San Francisco, you should know that the museum will host a symposium on opening day with a host of speakers including Hamish Bowles.

It’s almost too good to be true.

For reasons unknown, the Mondrian-inspired clothes just keeps rolling in -

First, a reader sent in the DVF dress at left in response to yesterday’s Mondrian-inspired finds. Then, Kyle sent us a text saying that he spotted a Mondrian-inspired Louboutin in the window of the FIT museum.

And in our Inbox this morning? A Mondrian-inspired tee from Topman.

What’s next, color-blocked sunglasses from Marc?

Confession:

We are smitten with the Forever 21 dress at right, inspired by two things at once:

The first, of course, is the famous Composition series by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.

The second is a YSL sheath dress from 1965, currently housed in the Met Museum’s archives.

“But it’s a copy!” you say, and we’re like, yeah, we know, but it’s a copy 43 years in the making, or 80-something years, since Mondrian began painting his most famous series in 1922. (We still don’t plan on actually purchasing it.)

Is it wrong to hope next, Forever 21 makes a sheath with giant soup cans all over it?

(Yes, yes, we know, very wrong…)